Workers urged to check their pay slips

Workers urged to check their pay slips

More than two million workers are being urged to check their pay slips with an increase for employees on minimum award wages taking effect.

A 3 per cent wage increase applies to all employees on awards from July 1, with the Fair Work Commission's annual review taking the national minimum wage to $740.80 a week or $19.49 an hour.

Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus said people should check their pay slip to make sure they get the increase.

"Some employers make a mistake and don't realise and some employers rely on the fact their workers don't know," she said today.

ACTU Secretary Sally McManus is urging people to check their pay slips. Picture: David Geraghty/The Australian

But she said workers in retail and hospitality would miss out on the full 3 per cent because Sunday penalty rate cuts came into place at the same time.

"Having those penalty rates being cut at a time of record low wage growth and the economy doing badly is a negative thing for everyone," Ms McManus said.

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said all workers would be better off under the award increase, despite changes to penalty rates in some industries.

"ACTU claims that workers will suffer because Sunday penalty rate adjustments do not stand the most cursory of scrutiny and will no doubt be called out once again as 'fanciful' in various independent fact checks," he said earlier in the week.

The Fair Work Commission voted in May to increase the minimum wage by 3 per cent.

It was down from last year's 3.5 per cent boost, due to current economic conditions.

Retail and hospitality workers saw their Sunday penalty rates cut.

Australian unions had been pushing for a 6 per cent increase, which would have equated to an extra $43 per week rise, while business groups wanted a lower increase of up to 2 per cent, or $14.40 a week.

Before the decision was announced, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) urged the Fair Work Commission to support a fairer salary for workers, tweeting that: "No full-time worker should earn a wage that leaves them in poverty. It's time for a living wage."

Fair Work Commission president Iain Ross said this year's minimum wage hike was smaller than last year's because of the recent drops in gross domestic product growth and inflation.

"We are satisfied that the level of increase we have decided upon will not lead to any adverse inflationary outcome and nor will it have any measurable negative impact on employment,'' Mr Ross said.